Elon Musk sells nearly $4b in Tesla stock

Tesla chief Elon Musk sold nearly $4 billion worth of shares in the electric car company, SEC filings showed Tuesday, more than a week after he closed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission documents show Musk, who financed much of his Twitter purchase with Tesla stock, sold more than 19 million shares worth in excess of $3.9 billion.

Musk took control of Twitter and fired its top executives in late October after a drawn out back-and forth between the world's richest person and the influential social media company.

He tried to step back from the Twitter deal soon after his unsolicited offer was accepted in April, and said in July he was canceling the contract because he was misled by Twitter over the number of fake "bot" accounts-allegations rejected by the company.

After Musk sought to terminate the sale, Twitter filed a lawsuit to hold the entrepreneur to the deal. But with a trial looming, he capitulated and revived his takeover plan.

Musk's decision to pull Twitter off the stock market has allowed him to make major changes quickly, but it also took the company more heavily into debt, a risky choice for a moneylosing business.

In early November, he announced an $8 per month charge to verify users' accounts, arguing the plan would solve the platform's issues with bots and trolls while creating a new revenue stream for the company.

Humanitarian groups on Sunday said Italy had broken international law by refusing to let in migrants plucked from the sea as a German rescue charity said it would take legal action against Rome.

As rescue ships in Catania waited for permission to disembark every last person, a migrant rescue hotline said some 500 others had run into difficulty on the perilous Mediterranean crossing.

A father carrying a baby in a purple beanie was among the first to get off Geo Barents, a ship run by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

He was one of the lucky 357 people allowed off. Italy refused entry to 215 others.

Earlier in the day authorities accepted 144 people including children and the sick from the Germanflagged Humanity 1, but rejected 35 adult male migrants, the charity SOS Humanity said.

The ship was then "ordered to leave the port of Catania", but its captain refused, it said.

The charity said Italian authorities had decided after a "brief medical examination" that the 35 adults were "healthy", but said there was "no translator present to assess their mental and physical condition, nor was there a psychological evaluation".

"Furthermore, the 35 survivors have the right to apply for asylum, and to a formal asylum procedure, which can only be carried out on land".

The organisation said it would be taking legal action and appeals against the government's policy would be submitted to courts in Rome and Catania on Monday.

Amnesty International urged Italy to stop discriminating, saying "the law of the sea is clear; a rescue ends